Monday, November 30, 2009

7 Day Kickstart Challenge

INTRO
So I had another week of "phoning it in"...wait, who am I kidding? what I did wasn't even the equivalent of sending a text message. It was a slight improvement from the previous week, but a week of bad behavior nonetheless. I worked out one time. I may have eaten two salads all week. Apart from that, staying up late, restaurant take-out, long midday naps and seconds on dessert were the order of the day. Every day.

While I was feeling discouraged and very much like a failure at life, I decided to watch some of the videos by my fellow You Tube Weight Loss Community members for some motivation and encouragement. And there it was. Another way for the "Fresh Foodie" to keep it fresh: The daily blog. Talk about a great way to be held accountable! Letting another entire week of unhealthy decisions go by? Not THIS week!

Thanks for the idea, Dusty (everyday120togo) and Mandy (choosing2lose)

Many of the people who do daily blogs do it for weeks at a time. But I just want to kickstart my progress and get back on track after letting my focus and motivation putter and die these past few weeks. So I decided to challenge myself to do a daily blog every day for a week. The challenge guidelines are as follows:

1) Make and upload a video to YouTube everyday.

2) Make a blog entry everyday that includes photos and/or video of everything I consumed that day (good or bad) and the workouts i did.

3) Meet all of my weekly fitness goals:

*Diet*- Salad everyday, watch portions

*Exercise*- At least five 30 min cardio sessions and three 10 min toning sessions

*Hydration*- At least 100 oz of water per day

*Rest*- in bed by 12:30pm or at least 7 hrs per night

*Weight Loss*- Lose at least 1 lb (c'mon, is that too much to ask?)











I'm feeling optimistic for the first time in a while....






DAY ONE- Monday


Despite my careless and reckless behavior last week, by some miracle I still managed to lose 1.6 pounds. So my starting weight for the Kickstart Challenge is...




I did a 35 minute walk on a local trail. Here's a short clip of my cardio workout...





I also did 10 minutes of toning today. I did 5 minutes of upper body toning with weights and 5 minutes alternating abs and chest presses. (I recorded it, but it has taken over an hour and still won't upload. I can't keep waiting if I'm gonna make my bedtime! Besides, that video was pretty boring to watch...)

Here is what I consumed today....
Breakfast- Organic Natural Peanut Butter Sandwich on Ezekiel Raisin Bread w/ Almond Milk












Lunch- Organic Spinach and Romaine Salad with Feta Cheese, Almonds, Dried Cranberries and Organic Soy Ginger Dressing, an Apple and an Orange










Dinner- Bacon Cheeseburger (made w/ extra lean beef, whole wheat sandwich thins, reduced fat colby jack cheese, lean bacon, organic ketchup and pickles), sun chips, spinach and romaine salad with fat free italian dressing



plus.....over 120 oz of water total. :)






Here's the link to today's YouTube vlog...
http://www.youtube.com/freshfoodiefitness
and click on the video entitled "Fresh Foodie's 7 Day Kickstart Challenge".



See you tomorrow! :0)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Fighting Back and Starting Fresh

As long as I can remember I have suffered from depression during the winter months. It wasn't too much of a problem when I was growing up outside of Houston, TX. True, winters were dark, gloomy, cold and wet, but they were short. Plus I lived close to the water, close to the city, close to my family and friends. I moved farther north a few years back. Although the weather is way better than Houston's most of the year, most of my local friends live over an hour away and these longer winters landlocked in the mountains have been doing me in.

I had been looking forward to my South America vacation, only to have it tainted by a wicked stomach virus and altitude sickness. The surroundings and the company was so enjoyable that I tried to be a trooper, but i wasn't feeling well at all and spent several days on a liquid diet. I was even more depressed to come back after a vacation with family to cold, dark, rainy surroundings.

I realized this week just how much of an emotional eater that i am. I've eaten fast food, junk food and candy for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for days now. I have gone to bed ridiculously late and taking long naps during the day. I have not exercised or had nearly enough water. I have been completely unmotivated to do anything at all since i got back. My room was so cluttered, it took me three times as long to do the most basic of daily tasks, simply because i couldn't find anything.

After over a week of living like this, i decided i had to regain control of my own life, fight against the crashing waves of depression and not simply allow myself to drown in them. True, it's not something that is just going to go away on its own. But i can control how i respond to it to some degree. I can fight back. And i will.

I'm refocusing on the basics- healthy food choices, water, exercise, rest and blogging. I took yesterday afternoon and completely cleaned my room. I started fresh today. I'm gonna make it through this winter, one choice at a time. And it makes a world of difference to know that I have your support along the way.

CHECK OUT THE RELATED VLOG "CRY FOR HELP" here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64qyd6BMREA